How does Kelowna compare?

by Contributed - Story: 82005
Oct 19, 2012 / 5:00 am

The basis for these comparisons has always been to look at other beautiful destinations around the world.

This year, I am going to look at four-bed single family homes, lake view or golf course - in other words, resort orientation which is really what Kelowna offers in terms of lifestyle.

In the past, forum participants have complained that the cities I compare houses to offer much better job prospects so it is a misleading comparison. Fundamentally, I disagree, largely because the majority of people moving into Kelowna are not moving here because of job prospects, they move here because it is a beautiful place to live and invest their retirement or investment funds. With those parameters in place, the comparison makes sense.

What I decided to do was to look at a heavily weighted US scenario because we keep hearing about the state of the depressed housing market in the US. I have expanded to a few other resort areas for comparison also.

So lets take a look at the table and see how we stack up against the rest:

MLS REF	CITY	FEATURE	SIZE	PRICE	PER SQ.FT.
10052901	Kelowna	Lakeview	3250	$769,000	$216
10055471	Kelowna	Golf	3607	$849,988	$235
20121560	Lake Tahoe	Lakeview	3469	$1,150,000	$331
20120011	Lake Tahoe	Golf	4166	$1,975,000	$474
O494556	Orlando	Golf	4584	$1,599,000	$349
O5108141	Orlando	Waterview	4042	$1,319,000	$326
397432	Sonoma	Golf	3140	$1,450,000	$462
21213382	Sonoma	Vineyard	3014	$1,275,000	$423
RSl110587	Lake Como	Lakeview	2500	$1,480,000	$592
53043	Montenegro	Lakeview	1420	$463,000	$326

It became quite clear that Kelowna, still has an incredible amount to offer the savvy international investor. It offers a more than comparable lifestyle to the locations compared and quite frankly never has been “over-priced” as a destination. Given that the value of US real estate has tumbled, the extrapolation that the same will happen here is such wild conjecture that can be discounted completely in my humble opinion.

What we are seeing in Kelowna is that the resale properties are selling for very close to construction price at or around $220 per square foot.

I ensured that I did not select the least expensive Kelowna comparisons and neither did I select the most expensive comparables in other regions. In some instances it was difficult to find a golf course property or a 4 bedroom home in places like Montenegro but the variance is so large as to be able to extrapolate that we are still great value for money and will be for some time now.

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About the author...

For the past twenty years Mark has been involved in real estate development and consulting and is currently a REALTOR with Realty Executives in Kelowna.

His column, brings a unique perspective on what may be important to us in the future as we come to grips with fast paced change in a world that few people barely recognize.

His influences come from the various travels he undertakes as an Adventurer, Philanthropist and Keynote Speaker. More information can be found on Mark at his website www.markjenningsbates.com

The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet presents its columns "as is" and does not warrant the contents.

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